One of the most common ways to hold a toilet seat to the floor is with a bolt. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,125,479, the contents of which are incorporated by reference.
When using a nut and bolt fastener it is almost always the practice to provide the objects being joined with a bore through which the bolt body extends. Bolt insertion into the bore is facilitated by making the bore somewhat larger than the bolt's diameter.
As the diameter of the bore increases relative to the diameter of the bolt, and the thickness of the bore decreases relative to the length of the bolt body, the bolt becomes more prone to shifting its position in the bore before the nut is tightened. Such movement of the bolt may thwart or at least complicate attachment and tightening of the nut and proper positioning of the bolt and object being attached. Moreover, in certain types of installations, such as those described below involving toilets, the bolt may even drop out of the bore. Thus, there exists a general need for a device which helps to stabilize and position a bolt for a toilet.
Toilets typically have universally accepted components for mounting on a floor surface. The toilet has a horizontal base to rest on and engage the floor surface. A recess opening appears on the underside thereof with a perimeter. A floor ring already mounted in the floor, is fitted within the recess. The floor ring is in communication with the downwardly extending sewer pipe.
A pair of oppositely disposed slots are typically formed in the flange and comprise a wide bolt head receiving portion terminating in an elongated narrow bolt head retaining portion slots. These openings extend vertically through the flange. The narrow portion of the slot frequently has lower edges terminating in a groove extending along the edges. The groove has a width greater than the narrow portion of the slot.
Conventionally, a bolt which has tipper and lower ends with the lower end having a planar head is mounted within the narrow portion of the slot with the planar head on the lower end thereof positioned in the aforementioned groove. The planar head on the bolt has a width wider than the narrow portion of the slot, and a longitudinal length greater than the width of the narrow portion. The longitudinal length of the head has a center axis which is typically positioned by turning the bolt so that the center axis extends across the width of the narrow portion of the slot.
A potential problem with the conventional configuration is that it is difficult to stabilize the bolt in the flange slot as the toilet is lowered. Since it is very difficult for the installer to see the bolts and to hold the toilet in place as the toilet is lowered over the upwardly pointing bolts, the bolts can be accidentally knocked out of position when the toilet is lowered over the bolts. Such bolts can be lost below the floor surface.
One existing scheme for restraining toilet bolts during pedestal installations uses a loose floating washer. While advantageous for holding the bolt in the flange, the configuration does not keep the bolt fixed, to make slipping the bore over the bolt easier. Another conventional system uses a thin flat plastic washer with a circular central opening, and four small notches symmetrically arranged about the disk's center. These notches define four flexible tabs which can retain the washer over the bolt threads. This configuration has also not been found to securely hold the bolt in place as a porcelain toilet is being lowered thereon. If the bottom of the toilet hits the top of the bolt as it is being lowered, it could force the bolt through the washer and into the floorboard.
The construction does not reliably hold the bolt securely enough in the slot to prevent it from being knocked out of position when the toilet is lowered.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved article and method for securing toilets to flanged rings.